FFS Friday - Scarce

Hello lovelies. How are you all? Have you had a good week?

I have lots to whine about today so get a drink and settle in. 

I had my first negative experience using NDIS services. So far we've been lucky but recently we almost weren't. 

I've been looking for a physio for Chai for a while now. He's outgrown OT and needs a physio. I thought I'd found one, I found a company who had availability and they seemed really nice. I spoke to them on the phone, they said they could get Chai in within four weeks and said they'd send me some forms to fill out. 

I opened the forms and it was a service agreement for two years, for fortnightly OT and physiotherapy, with a total of $21,767.72. WTF?!

 

I wasn't willing to sign the agreement without having met the practitioners and discussed what Chai needs and what they can do for him, so I called them but they wouldn't make an appointment for me, they wanted me to email them. I didn't bother. 

I've had all our providers since before we had NDIS, so I wasn't sure if signing a service agreement was standard practise or not, so I asked Chai's old OT's receptionist. She checked and got back to me. It's not normal at all. Thankfully I checked with her! She gave me the name of a good physio who does not want me to lock myself in for two years.

Things like this make me so angry. Taking advantage of people with a disability is disgusting. Charging them ridiculous prices because the government covers it is also disgusting. Chai gets a set amount of funds for the two years and I have to make sure they last him that whole period. I'm certainly not going to waste the funds on services that he doesn't need. Once the funds are gone they're gone, which means Chai would go without the help he needs until the next plan starts. 

 

Added to that, he already has two different therapies and tutoring, so adding in two more would mean he was having therapy at least twice a week. I refuse to make his life all about therapy. He need to be able to be a kid and have fun.

I'm going to see if there is somewhere that I can report that company for dodgy practices.

A few weeks ago we had the boys school disco. As usual it was lots of fun. As usual it was the same people doing all the work. I've been on the school P&C for two years now and there's something I just don't understand. Why don't more parents get involved? I know everyone is busy, people have work and leisure commitments, but surely most people could spare a little bit of time every now and again to do something that will help their kids?

We always have the same few people helping out. There are four of us who do most of the work at events. It's a lot to do. Each year we struggle to get enough people to attend meetings and help with functions. I wish I could understand why parents hesitate to help. 

We have a really lovely group of parents, the events we run are a lot of fun, we have just as much fun as the kids do. Everyone is easy to get along with and it's just a great time. Plus, seeing the excitement of the kids is worth all the hard work. 

So why don't more people get involved? I just don't understand. Surely they want fun events for their kids? Don't they realise those events don't happen if parents don't organise them?

I haven't told you about our coffee machine saga.

Two weeks before the end of term 2 we took our coffee machine in to be serviced. It had been tripping our power so they said it'd take about a week to get fixed. Nearly four months later we still don't have it back. 

First up the technician told us that he couldn't turn the machine on. It had been working fine, it just tripped the power when I tried to descale it. He finally managed to turn it on, then told us the boiler was broken and needed to be replaced. He ordered a boiler and was waiting for it to arrive. Then the school holidays came and he doesn't work school holidays. 

When the holidays were over he said that the boiler still hadn't arrived (four weeks). The boiler arrived, he replaced it and told us we could pick up our machine, by this time he'd had the machine for six weeks. When I went in to pick it up he told me that it wasn't ready, he'd been descaling it and it'd tripped the power again, which is when he realised that a pipe was leaking onto the boiler. Naturally he didn't have one of those pipes so had to order one.

When I went to pick the machine up he took me out to his work room. It was a mess, there were machines in pieces all over the place, it was dirty and disorganised. We've been using this business for eight years and never had a problem, so I figured maybe he was just having a bad day.

About four weeks ago we contact him again (by then he'd had the machine for three months) to find out what was going on. He told us he was waiting for seals. We weren't aware there was a problem with seals but didn't bother questioning it.

Three weeks ago we phoned again and were told that the technician had left but there was one coming down from Perth. That afternoon we were told we could pick up the machine. When we picked it up the shop manager told us the technician had checked the machine, put it back together and it was working well.

We got it home, turned it on and could not make a coffee because the infuser was missing. The machine can't run without an infuser. We called the shop manager who waited at the shop for us to go back and pick up the infuser. She was immediately suspicious that the technician hadn't even checked the machine because if he had the infuser would not have been missing.

We got our infuser, went home, turned the machine on and made a coffee. The coffee turned out fine but the machine was making a really loud noise that it'd never made before. It was also scratched on the side and top and there were stains that won't come off all over the front and side of the machine.

We got to enjoy our machine for two days then I had to take it back to the shop. They had a technician look at it but ultimately it had to be taken to Perth for repair. They told us that could take up to three weeks. FFS.

 

So we still have no coffee machine. Luckily the weather is warming up and I've figured out how to make cold brew coffee.

 

That's it for my epic whinge session.

 

Have a wonderful weekend beautiful people. You are all awesome. 

Thoughts of the week

1. School holidays are here!

2. I'm sorting out our bedroom at the moment, tidying things up and decluttering. It's so satisfying to see things looking neater.

3. Do you know how easy it is to make cold brew coffee? I didn't until this week. 1 cup of coffee grounds to 4 cups of water, soak for 12 to 24 hours (depending on how strong you want it), strain and then keep in the fridge for up to a week. Easy.

4. Chai starts his transition to high school next term. I'm so worried about it.

5. I've decided that I need a job where I can work from home. I want to earn more money.

FFS Friday - Tough

Hello beautiful people. How are you all? I hope you've had a good week. Ours has been rough. 

 

Tuesday was particularly tough. Tuesday mornings are my least favourite day of the week. Chai has online tutoring at 7am. Every single Tuesday morning he sleeps in. Every other day he's awake before 6am. Tuesdays he sleeps in. Every. Single. Time. 

 

I have the alarm set for 6.15am but if he wakes up because of the alarm it puts him in a bad mood and means he has a bad day at school. If I wake him up that puts him in a bad mood too. If I turn on a light or open the curtains that also puts him in a bad mood. So I usually just try to move around a bit (he's always in my bed) to wake him up naturally without him realising I've deliberately woken him up. 

Once he's awake he has to start getting ready. He hates it. He prefers to have a quiet, slow start to the day (don't we all). 

This Tuesday was particularly tough. As usual, Chai slept in. I managed to wake him up without him realising I'd woken him up. We got up and he went straight onto his tablet. I don't like him having screen time first thing in the morning but it's only way I can keep him calm. If he doesn't have screen time he's awful to Eljay, they fight and then everyone is upset. 

So, Chai was on his tablet. I had to remind him every five minutes that he needed to eat his breakfast and get dressed. He refused to get dressed so I asked him to have breakfast. 6.50am he wasn't dressed and was still eating his breakfast. Tutoring starts at 7am. 7am arrived and he was still eating, so then got annoyed that his tutor was waiting. 

He finished his lesson and was getting dressed. When he was nearly dressed I took all our things out to the car, checked that he was ready to leave and started the car up. 

A few minutes later he came out screaming at me because he couldn't find his socks and I wasn't helping. He'd gone from being fine to having an angry screaming fit in the space of two minutes. FFS.

I had no idea what the problem was so got out of the car to ask him and he screamed at me that I wasn't helping him find his socks. I couldn't help him as I had no idea where his socks were. 

I made a few suggestions whilst he screamed at every single suggestion. I gave up and got back into the car. After a while Chai came out. His clothes were all uncomfortable. His socks were wrong, his jumper was annoying, everything was irritating him. He was rude and abusive the whole car trip. He was awful to Eljay and awful to me. Nothing I tried calmed him down. 

By the time we got to school Eljay was in tears and I was ready to cry.

I wasn't working but had to do a few things at school for the P&C. I couldn't even think straight but managed to hold it together whilst I was there. 

Tuesday was busy. I felt really fragile all day. When I picked up the boys Chai started again, he'd had a rough day. When he's in one of those moods he's awful to everyone around. Poor Eljay cops it the worst. 

Just to top things off that afternoon Ejlay hurt himself on his scooter, got really upset about it and said that he wanted to kill himself. That's not something a child should be thinking.

I clarified that he didn't really mean it then booked a psych appointment for him.

When I told Tiger his exact words to Eljay were "That's no good bubba". So helpful. FFS.

Sometimes life is so tough, I wonder how much longer I'll be able to keep on going. Dealing with Chai can be impossible, nothing I do or say is right. I have no support, no-one to talk to about it so I just have to take a deep breath, put on a smile and pretend that everything is okay.

I look around at the people who know me and none of them have any idea what things are like at home. They have no idea what our mornings are like.

It reminds me to be kind to people because you just never know what they're going through.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend. If things are tough, I hope they improve soon.

Thoughts of the week

1. Last week I finished the last of Robyn Carr's books and now I don't know what to do with myself.

 

2. The circus was amazing. The boys loved it and can't wait to go again next time the circus is in town.

 

3. One week until the school holidays.

 

4. With the price of everything going up lately, I've started thinking of ways to cut costs. One thing I've been doing that helps a lot is to fill out meat meals with lentils. I buy the canned lentils and add a can or two to our slow cooked meat meals. The lentils are undetectable after they've been cooked all day and we use a lot less meat. Winner winner chicken (or red meat) dinner.

 

5. I GOT INTO THE POOL RECRUITMENT FOR MY JOB!!!!! I'm so excited/relieved/happy.

FFS Friday - When the singing stops

Hello beautiful people.

We're going to the circus tomorrow! I'm so excited! I haven't been to the circus since I was a kid. I have no idea what to expect, circus's are so different to what they used to be. I'm hoping it won't be too overwhelming for Chai. We're taking our sensory kit so hopefully he'll be able to enjoy himself. 

 

I read all I can on neurodiverse children like Chai. Most of the neurodiverse adults really don't like parents who identify themselves as parents of neurodiverse children and they say that parents shouldn't complain that it's difficult to raise neurodiverse children as it makes the children feel bad. 

 

I see where they're coming from, but the fact is that it is difficult raising children who are different, whether they're neurodiverse, have learning difficulties or any other disabilities. It's tough, really tough and in a lot of ways it does define you. You can't do things like other families do. 

 

Take the circus. If it was just Eljay we'd book tickets and go. Simple. 

Taking Chai makes it totally different. We've had discussions with him about what it will be like, how noisy it will be, that it might smell funny. When I booked the tickets I talked to them about how noisy it would be, if we can leave easily, if we can get back in if we do need to leave for a little while and made sure we got aisle seats. Before we go we'll visit the venue so Chai can have a look around. We'll take ear plugs, headphones, music, fidget toys, a soft toy and other things that comfort him. We'll choose a seat with easy access to the door in case we need to leave quickly. During the show we'll constantly be checking on Chai to make sure he's not overwhelmed. It's a lot. 

 

It gets exhausting and overwhelming. Having to be hyper vigilant all the time is very tiring. Sometimes it feels like it's all too hard. There are things that we just don't do because I don't have the energy. I hate being like that.

 

Some days I can't even sing because it upsets Chai. Every little noise could set him off.Those days are the worst. Chai can't eat at the dinner table with us unless he has noise cancelling headphones playing music to block out the sound of us eating. He usually sits at the bench whilst we sit at the table. I hate seeing him sitting there on his own.

 

What is his future going to look like? Who will care for him when I'm gone? How will he cope with high school? He's so vulnerable and easily lead, he could get into so much trouble at high school.  He desperately wants to fit in but he's one of those gorgeous kids who were meant to stand out. 

Parenting him is hard and getting harder. What's going to happen when the singing stops? When I'm not here to look after him and be his champion? When I can't shield him from the cruelties of the world? Will I have done enough to equip him to be able to take care of himself? Will the world all get too much for him and he'll decide to end things? I have so many fears for him. He's such a gentle soul and the world is so unkind. 

 

My greatest hope is that he'll find his people, he'll find his place and he'll be a happy, fulfilled man. That's what I want for him. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Dr Ceuracle Vegan Kombucha Tea Lip Balm Review

A little while ago I was sent some Dr Ceuracle products to review. They're all lovely, today I'm chatting about the Vegan Kombucha Tea Lip Balm. 

 

It's no secret I'm a long time lip balm connoisseur. I'm always trying new balms and I'm fussy about what I use. I prefer balms without petrolatum as I find them more hydrating than balms with petrolatum.

 

There's a lot to like about the Dr Ceuracle Vegan Kombucha Tea Lip balm.

First up, the packaging. It's sleek, simple and sophisticated. I like that it's a lipstick style case, I think it looks fancy.

The balm itself is lovely. It's smooth, hydrating and gives a light sheen to my lips. It has no flavour or fragrance. As well as slathering this on all day, I find it works really well as a lip primer. I apply a light layer when I'm doing my skin care and by the time I'm putting my make-up on it's absorbed.

 

At night I apply several (about 10) layers so that I wake up with soft, smooth lips. 

Kombucha Tea Lip Balm contains lots of skin loving ingredients such a shea butter, candelilla wax, carnauba wax, morninga, squalene and ceramides.

 

You can purchase Dr Ceuracle Vegan Kombucha Tea Lip Balm from various stores (such as Yes Style, Stylevana and Beauty Amora) for around $15 for a 3.7g/0.13oz tube. 

Ingredients: Polyglyceryl-2 Triisostearate, Squalane, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Octyldodecanol, Phytosteryl/Isostearyl/Cetyl/Stearyl/Behenyl Dimer Dilinoleate, Synthetic Wax, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Shea Butter, Ethylene/Propylene Copolymer, Carnauba Wax, Eclipta Prostrata Extract, Eclipta Prostrata Leaf Extract, Candelilla Wax, Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil, Water, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, Melia Azadirachta Flower Extract, Butylene Glycol, Anemarrhena Asphodeloides Root Extract, Ceramide NP, Citric Acid, Ocimum Sanctum Leaf Extract, Candida Bombicola/Glucose/Methyl Rapeseedate Ferment, Corallina Officinalis Extract, Rice Germ Oil, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate, Schisandra Chinensis Fruit Extract, 1,2-Hexanediol, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract.

 

Note: This product was provided to me for review. 

Thoughts of the week

1. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm a laptop person now. 

A few months ago Tiger broke my desktop computer so I've been using his laptop. It's nothing like my old laptop was. It's light, the keyboard is good and being able to move it around is very convenient. I'm converted.

 

2. I also love the idea of being one of those people sitting in a coffee shop writing on my computer. No idea what I'd write about or why I couldn't do said writing at home, but I just like the idea.

 

3. This week I ordered one of the Makeup by Mario lip balms. Can't wait for it to arrive.

 

4. How good is coffee!

 

5. Josh Langley's new book is out. If you have kids, or even if you don't, check it out!

FFS Friday - Winner winner chicken dinner

Hello beautiful people. How are you all? Have you had a good week?

The countdown to the school holidays is on. Two weeks to go. I am so looking forward to lazy mornings and not having to be organised. I really don't like having to be organised. I like lazy days with my boys. Hopefully it won't be too wet so we'll be able to get out and do things.  

For some reason I'm unable to reply to comments, sorry about that! I can post a comment underneath but can't reply to comments. Strange.

 

After nearly three months and around twenty emails, I finally got the letter of diagnosis for Chai's new condition. Whilst I knew about it, seeing it in writing is tough. Really tough. It's one thing to know about the condition, but to see it confirmed in writing feels bad. I grieve for the life I wanted him to have. I don't want to change him, I want to change the world so that life isn't so difficult for him. 

I feel so sad for all the challenges my baby faces. Life isn't easy for him and I can't see it ever being easy. That makes me really sad.

He's going to high school next year. I am not expecting it to be an easy transition. 

 

The world isn't kind to people who are different. If only we could recognise that their differences are beautiful.

 

To add to the excitement, Wednesday morning at 4.30am Tiger decided it'd be fun to have a fight with the garage door. He did not win. He was going to work at 4.30am, pressed the button to make the garage door go up and started reversing. He didn't bother looking behind him, at his reversing camera or in the rear view mirror so smashed straight in to the garage door as it was going up. Somehow he was going fast enough that he buckled the door, popped it off the rollers and it landed on the top of his car. 

 

By some miracle the boys and I slept through all the noise. I got up at 5.30am and the garage looked like this...

 

 

Luckily my car is little so I was able to get it out to go to work and take the boys to school.

Tiger had to take the day off work to wait for the repair man. We were expecting bad news but were really pleased that he was able to fix it! We thought we'd be up for a new door considering how buckled it was. 

 

Maybe next time he'll look before he starts reversing. IMO it's always a good idea. 

 

Have a wonderful weekend lovelies.

My Organics Cosmic Dust My Kids Organic Spray Conditioner

Well that's a long winded name isn't it?

 

I'm a Mum of boys, so dealing with long hair (other than my own) isn't something I've had much experience with. Eljay decided to grow his hair and now has hair down to his shoulders. He refuses to tie it up and it's very fine, so it gets really matted and knotty. 

 

Detanglers are surprisingly difficult to find. There is only one detangler sold in our area and it's really not very good. I purchased a few online but they were either ineffective or super expensive. Eljay is very liberal with his application so we go through detangler very quickly.

Whilst I was reading the You Beauty Facebook page I read a post about detanglers and someone recommended My Organics Cosmic Dust, so I bought it. This is easily the best detangler I've found.

 

It smells lovely, doesn't weigh down his hair and easily detangles. Others we've tried have needed so much product that his hair is wet. My Organics only needs a few sprays, we use between four to six sprays for his whole head. Even when his hair is really matted, the knots are no match for Cosmic Dust. It really is wonderful. 

You can get Cosmic dust for $6 to $9 (depending if it's on sale or not) from Chemist Warehouse. At the moment it's on sale for $5.39. 

The 120ml bottle lasts us a few months if I'm spraying it on and one month if Eljay is spraying it on, haha.

Thoughts of the week

1. Matte lipsticks are so good now. Remember when they first came out and they'd make your lips look like an anus? Not pretty at all.

2. The Natural State vanilla caramel room spray is divine. I get mine from Woolworths.

3. I really feel like chatting but have no idea what I want to chat about.

4. 11 Weeks with no coffee machine. Give me strength.

5. Do we like this new font?

FFS Friday - Ramble

Hello beautiful people. How are you all? My font has changed from the one I usually use, not sure what happened there but it's quite cute.  

I got the job application done, what a nightmare that was. I seem to have a blip in my brain that kicks in every time I have to do a selection criteria and I really struggle with them. I find it so stressful. The stupid thing is I love writing so I have no idea why I find selection criteria so difficult. I suppose it's because I'm invested in the outcome, I'm not just writing for pleasure or for a professional purpose. 

Anyhow, I got the application done, so now I wait and hope for the best. I'd love to get a contract or permanent job. That'd be ideal. It's a lot less than I used to earn, but it's a job that I can do now, it fits around my kids and I really enjoy the people I work with. The staff and kids are all lovely. 

A regular job would make such a huge difference. I'd be able to budget, get bills paid and hopefully have a bit of money left to start doing a few things that I want and need to do for myself. 

Working is so difficult when you have children. It would be great if employers were more flexible. Especially now, with skills and labour shortages, you'd think employers would be willing to be more adaptable. They might actually get the staff they need if they were. 

 

If I owned a big company I'd have free onsite child care and flexible working hours. It'd make life so much easier for staff. Managers don't seem to care about things like that though.

Anyhow, enough day dreaming. What's been happening? Are you all well and happy? I hope so.

 

I don't have a whole lot to talk about today. We still have no coffee machine, it's been 11 weeks now. I am not okay with this at all.

 

I'm all about minty, tingly lip balms at the moment. If you know of any good ones please let me know. I have the Badger one, or I should say I had the Badger one till Chai pinched it. 

I've been using the Alpha-H Absolute Lip Perfector, it gives a lovely cooling sensation. It's a shame we can't get CO Bigelow here, their mentha lip tints are the best.

That's enough of my rambling. Have a wonderful weekend.